Nikolay Gryazin
Nikolay Gryazin
Nikolay Gryazin in 2018
Personal information
Nationality Russian[a] (2019–2020) Russian Automobile Federation[b] (2021–2022) FIA (2022–2023)[c]Bulgaria Bulgaria (2024–present)[d]
Born (1997-10-07) 7 October 1997Moscow, Russia
World Rally Championship record
Active years2019–present
Co-driverRussia///KyrgyzstanKonstantin Aleksandrov
TeamsHyundai, Movisport, Toksport, DG Sport Compétition
Rallies58
Championships0
Rally wins0
Podiums0
Stage wins0
Total points47
First rally2019 Rally Sweden

Nikolay Stanislavovich Gryazin (Russian: Николай Станиславович Грязин, IPA:[nʲɪkɐˈɫaɪ̯stənʲɪˈsɫavəvʲɪt͡ɕˈɡrʲæzʲɪn]; born 7 October 1997) is a Russian-Bulgarian[2]rally driver currently competing under a Bulgarian License. He is the son of former rally driver Stanislav Gryazin and the younger brother of rally driver Vasiliy Gryazin.

Gryazin has four overall victories in the European Rally Championship, and he finished second in the 2018 European Rally Championship, winning the ERC Junior U28 title. In 2019, he made his debut in the World Rally Championship, achieving his first WRC-2 class victory in the 2019 Rally Finland.

Gryazin currently competes for Citroen Racing, in the World Rally Championship, driving a Citroen C3 Rally2 in the World Rally Championship-2, the premier support category of the World Rally Championship. His current co-driver is fellow Russian Konstantin Aleksandrov.

Background

A Russian driver with Latvian background, since the beginning of his rallying career, Gryazin has been a member of the junior rally program of Sports Racing Technologies.

Career

Early years

With their backing, he first rose to prominence in 2016, in the junior classes of the European Rally Championship, running a full-time campaign in the ERC-3 class with an R2-spec Peugeot 208. From the start he showed speed, but lacked enough consistency. After four rallies in which he failed to finish, he scored a class win at the Polish round in Rzeszowski and a podium at the Czech Rally Zlín. He finished the season placed 4th in the ERC-3 standings.[3] He would also place 6th in the Latvian junior championship that year.

2017–2018: ERC & Latvia

In 2017, Gryazin would make the step-up to four-wheel drive machinery, as he would be using the Škoda Fabia R5 for a full-time outright campaign on the European and Latvian Rally Championships, along with select regional rallies across Europe. Gryazin struggled to take off in the European Championship, only managing a best finish of 5th at the Rallye Açores, until he fought Kalle Rovanperä to take an overall win at the season-ending Rally Liepaja, the Latvian round of the ERC.[4] He finished the ERC season 7th place, and came second in the Under-28 trophy. Back in Latvia, he managed an impressive three victories and finished runner-up in the championship. Gryazin coupled these programs with podium finishes and victories in regional rallies at Estonia, Slovenia, and Finland.

Nikolay Gryazin competing at the 2018 Rally Poland.

The year of 2018 marked a breakout year for Gryazin. In addition to continued full-season efforts in the ERC and Latvia with the Fabia, he would also tackle the Finnish championship as well. This season would prove to be very successful for Gryazin, as he would take two overall victories in the ERC, one in Poland with a hard battle between himself and Jari Huttunen, and at Rally Liepaja for the second consecutive year. These victories were obtained on the way to a runner-up finish in the 2018 ERC standings, winning the Under-28 trophy as well. Gryazin finished 3rd in the Latvian championship with three victories, as well as taking home 4th in the Finnish Championship with one win. He took additional podiums and victories in regional rallies at Poland, Lithuania, Italy, Sweden, and Norway.

2019–present: World Rally Championship-2

After a big breakthrough year in 2018, it was announced that Gryazin and Sports Racing Technologies would make the step up to a full-season campaign in the World Rally Championship-2 in 2019, which would mark his first starts in the World Rally Championship.[5] After two victories in warm-up rallies in Norway, Gryazin made his WRC debut at Rally Sweden, and he would finish 15th overall, and 5th in the WRC-2 class.[6] In his next round at Corsica, he finished 12th overall, and took a 2nd place WRC-2 finish, capitalizing on the attrition of the regular favorites. The rest of his 2019 season campaign was scheduled to be the remaining non-fly away events.

Rally results

Complete WRC results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 WDCPoints
2019Nikolay Gryazin[e]Škoda Fabia R5MONSWE15MEXFRA12ARGCHLPOR13ITARetFIN10GER20TURWD24th 1
Škoda Fabia R5 EvoGBR13ESP23AUSC
2020Hyundai Motorsport NHyundai i20 R5MON16SWE21MEX7EST19TURITARetMNZ18th 6
2021MovisportVolkswagen Polo GTI R5MON12ARC12CRORetPOR10ITARetKENESTRetBEL59FIN3630th 2
Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. IIGRE13
Škoda Fabia Rally2 evoESP10MNZ13
2022Toksport WRT 2 Škoda Fabia Rally2 evoMON10SWERetCRO10POR28ITA8KENESTWDFINRetBEL8GRE10NZLESP13JPN18th 11
2023Toksport WRT 2 Škoda Fabia Rally2 evoMON10SWE11MEXRetCRO9POR30ITA34KENESTFIN9GRE47CHL10EUR16JPN819th 10
2024AEC – DG Sport CompétitionCitroën C3 Rally2MON10SWE19KENCRO8POR7ITA33POL14LAT14FIN9GRE48CHL9EUR6JPN714th 24
2025Nikolay Gryazin Škoda Fabia RS Rally2MON9SWEKENESP10POR46ITA8GRERetESTRetFIN14PARCHLEURJPNSAU15th* 7*

* Season still in progress.

Complete WRC-2 results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 WDCPoints
2019Nikolay Gryazin[e]Škoda Fabia R5MONSWE5MEXFRA2ARGCHLPOR5ITARetFIN1GER5TURWDGBR4th 73
Škoda Fabia R5 EvoESP11AUSC
2020Hyundai Motorsport NHyundai i20 R5MON3SWE6MEX2EST5TURITARetMNZ5th 51
2021MovisportVolkswagen Polo GTI R5MONARC3CRORetPOR4ITAKENESTRetBEL2FIN6ESPMNZ6th 77
Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. IIGRE3
2022Toksport WRT 2 Škoda Fabia Rally2 evoMON3SWERetCRO4PORITA1KENESTWDFINRetBELGRE2NZLESP3JPN5th 85
2023Toksport WRT 2 Škoda Fabia Rally2 evoMON2SWEMEXCRO2PORITA21KENESTFIN3GRECHL5EUR6JPN24th 96
2024AEC – DG Sport CompétitionCitroën C3 Rally2MON3SWEKENCRO1PORITAPOL6LATFINGRE21CHL2EUR1JPN13rd 116
2025Nikolay Gryazin Škoda Fabia RS Rally2MONSWEKENESP3PORITAGREESTRetFINPARCHLEURJPNSAU222nd* 15*

* Season still in progress.

Complete European Rally Championship Results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ERC Points
2015Sports Racing Technologies Škoda Fabia R5JANLVAIRLACOYPRESTCZECYPGRCVAL634th 10
2016Sports Racing Technologies Peugeot 208 R2ESPIRL20GRCACORetYPRRetESTRetPOL13CZE29LVA27NC 0
Škoda Fabia R5CYPRet
2017Sports Racing Technologies Škoda Fabia R5ACO5ESP12GRCRetCYP33POLRetCZE14ROM8LVA17th 59
2018Sports Racing Technologies Škoda Fabia R5ACOESP2GRCCYPROM27CZE5POL1LVA12nd 129
2019Sports Racing Technologies Škoda Fabia R5AZOCANLIEPOLRMCRetCZERetCYPHUNNC 0
2020Nikolay Gryazin Hyundai i20 R5ITALAT20PRTHUNESP34th 1
2021MovisportVolkswagen Polo GTI R5POLRetLAT1ITA21CZEPRT1PRT2HUN22ESP9th 44

Notes

  1. ^He occasionally competed under a Latvian licence.
  2. ^Nikolay Gryazin competed as a neutral competitor hiding his Russian flag using the designation RAF (Russian Automobile Federation), as the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a ban on Russia competing at World Championships. The ban was implemented by the World Anti-Doping Agency in response to state-sponsored doping program of Russian athletes.
  3. ^Nikolay Gryazin competed as a neutral competitor using the FIA flag as Russian national emblems were banned by the association due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[1]
  4. ^In 2024, Gryazin switched to Bulgarian licence after obtaining Bulgarian citizenship.
  5. ^ abEntry run by Sports Racing Technologies.

References

  1. ^"FIA announces World Motor Sport Council decisions in relation to the situation in Ukraine". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 1 March 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  2. ^"Пилот с участия в световния рали шампионат получи български лиценз". afb-bg.com. 29 December 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  3. ^"NIKOLAY GRYAZIN – DRIVER PROFILE". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  4. ^"52. Azores Airlines Rallye 2017". e-wrc.com. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  5. ^JB (29 December 2018). "Débarquement de Nikolay Gryazin en WRC-2". planetemarcus.com. Archived from the original on 1 January 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  6. ^"WRC 2 in Sweden:Østberg seals Pro win". wrc.com. WRC. 17 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
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